Some posters here on Free Republic have said that what Saudi Arabia is doing is trying to destroy many of our oil producers here in the USA and permanently damage the oil industry here. I suggested this very thing (below) ... for those who thought that is what Saudi Arabia is doing.
Quoting from article ...
One of the interesting issues is how to protect US producers from this kind of price manipulation. This problem has been faced before, in the 1980s, when much of the US production came from high-cost ‘stripper wells,’ (producing less than 10 barrels per day). Once the price falls below certain levels, such wells become uneconomical and have to be shut down — cemented shut, never to be re-opened.
To guard against this possibility, one needs to institute a variable import fee (VIF). The original proposal came from then-Senator David Boren, a Democrat from Oklahoma. The idea is: if the price drops below an agreed-upon level, the government will apply an import fee to produce what amounts to a floor price for imported oil. Note that this is not a tariff — although when applied it acts like a tariff, but only until the price goes up again — above the agreed-upon level. So this is simply a way to protect domestic oil production against foreign price manipulation.
I bbelieve the damage to American oil production will be less severe this time around because the oil tech makes the wells easier to reopen to production once the price goes up again. The price may bounce around but will trend to a a level that balances this, subject to politics and war, of course.
Since the US is a net importer of foreign oil, who do you think will pay this tariff?
This is what we need. We have to protect domestic production. I am not compatible with Sharia Law.
Drill Baby Drill.
There has been plenty of other business that have gone under because of their lack of ability to compete with foreign imports.
I'm just curious of your opinion.
Yeah, meet their crony capitalism with our own.
All government price supports must be resisted.